GoW lacks the sort of awe that I found in Bioshock, and it doesn’t really immerse you in the plot the way that Half-Life did, and it’s not so completely out-of-the-box like Portal, but it has a certain visceral Doom-ish quality that many of the more intellectual FPS games don’t.

I come away from this game with nothing but mixed feelings. Pretty much every aspect starts by exciting you, giving you hope that an RPG is finally going to be all the things you want it to be. But at every turn, it mocks you with "Just kidding!", ripping the rug out from under your feet and making you taste cold reality again. This back and forth relationship makes playing The Witcher 2 tiring. Everything is a battle against good intentions turned sour by fatal design flaws. It's one of those games that I don't regret having played, but I also wouldn't recommend it to a friend, either. And since that's exactly where the first game left me, I have little hope that the Witcher universe will ever be a place I feel at home.

I wound up loving the downloadable version of Daytona USA. If you grew up playing it in its heyday, or enjoyed it as Sega Racing Classic recently, definitely give it a shot. For $10 on XBLA or $7 on PSN for a limited time, you'll be able to play one of the finest arcade racers whenever you want against anyone in the world.

DOOM 3 BFG Edition is basically an appetizer for the main course that is DOOM 4. Still, it's a fantastic bundle for any horror enthusiast or DOOM fan, or even anyone looking to relive one of the better games of the last generation. It's flawed, sure, but there's almost a bit of charm in that

It's imaginative, it controls well, and the puzzles are solid and challenging without being repetitive. It's simply that a basic weakness in the engine makes The Haunted Mansion a far more frustrating experience than it really needs to be.

A mediocre game with an excellent story and audio design, based on a classic suspense film of the late seventies.

If you are one of those people who played XCOM2 to absolute distraction, over and over and over again, by all means War of the Chosen is no doubt for you. For people like me, who enjoyed XCOM2, but wandered away from it once the plot was done, I’m not sure this is enough to bring you back to full throttle. There’s no question that I’m enjoying War of the Chosen, but the oh-my-God let me just play one more turn, complete one more mission, wait until this room or that research project is finished, is greatly diminished.

I wound up loving the downloadable version of Daytona USA. If you grew up playing it in its heyday, or enjoyed it as Sega Racing Classic recently, definitely give it a shot. For $10 on XBLA or $7 on PSN for a limited time, you'll be able to play one of the finest arcade racers whenever you want against anyone in the world.

You’re buying the Chronicles pack for Shadows Over Mystara, with Tower of Doom as a sort of optional curiosity. It’s a fun way to pass a couple of hours and the online play is generally solid (at least, it is on XBLA; I’ve heard nothing but bad things about the Steam version), so this would be a great pick for those of you who’re looking for a four-player party game.

Its quality bar is way lower than you might be used to. It’s the best $20 worth of GTA you could ask for, and it will serve as a nice stop-gap title before GTAIV sees the light of day.

If you can look past the iffy graphics, Drakengard 2 has a lot to enjoy. The fighting is fun and has enough variety to avoid monotony, so give it at least a cursory look.

If you enjoy (and have time for) hour-long tug-of-war matches with a huge array of vehicles and weapons, then it’s hard to go wrong with Frontlines: Fuel of War.

A strong game, but it succeeds kind of in spite of itself. It would've been nice to see a lot more originality in the game, but Area 51 is a fun ride, regardless.

Overall, The 40th Day, which is an awful name by the way, is actually a great game. Is it as much of an improvement over the original as we might’ve hoped? Not really, but there is a ton more content including a hefty arsenal of weaponry for you to pimp out and an expanded multiplayer that makes this game well worth playing.

A great re-creation of the arcade classic. The best part is the fact that the addictive gameplay, which made the original so popular, remains the same.

NCAA Basketball 10 is a very good game of basketball. Gameplay is engaging and fun, the college atmosphere is alive and intense, and Dynasty mode will still keep you busy for hours. But if you already have NBA Live 10, it will be hard to justify a purchase. The omission of any type of career mode is a real shame, and you won’t be able to shake the feeling that this is NBA Live with a fresh coat of paint. For any college basketball fan that does not own NBA Live 10, I can recommend this game without hesitation.

All in all, I found that Midnight Club: L.A. is an incredibly enjoyable, but flawed racing game that succeeds at offering an excellent virtual L.A. and a great deal of fun racing action, but also requires you to jump through far too many hoops to fully enjoy the game.

All in all, Rising Tide is a decent addition to Beyond Earth, and yes, it finally feels like a game that has achieved escape velocity and left the atmosphere and gravitational pull of planet Civ 5.

Overall, I found Lost Horizon to be a pleasant experience. The game engine works well, the sights and sounds are fun to watch and listen to, and the dialogue is well-written and entertaining -- and while I found the puzzles in the game to be a little easy (Lost Horizon is one of the rare adventures where I never had to consult a walkthrough), that might or might not be a detraction depending on what you're looking for.

The game does deserve some respect because, admittedly, despite its shortcomings players are likely to be compelled enough to finish it. The fun that the game does deliver when it decides to is nail-bitingly entertaining and, as stated above, the storyline is fantastic.

Technical merits aside, there are a couple of hiccups that complicate the game. The first, and perhaps greatest issue, is why the hell are the deaths censored as much as they are in this game?

Despite its flaws, for $10 (or $8 for PS+ members), this isn't a bad deal since the core game is still a blast to play and replay thanks to its addictive nature. The loss in licensing doesn't hurt as much as one might think, and despite over a decade passing since the game's initial release, its gameplay has stood the test of time.

Should you buy Retribution? It really depends. Are you a fan of either the previous games or the tabletop game on which they're based? If so, then chances are, you will enjoy this entry enough to justify the modest $30 price tag. For those new to the franchise, however, I would advise getting Dawn of War 2 instead, which is by far the better experience and often cheaper, as well.

The game does deserve some respect because, admittedly, despite its shortcomings players are likely to be compelled enough to finish it. The fun that the game does deliver when it decides to is nail-bitingly entertaining and, as stated above, the storyline is fantastic.

Daggerdale, as these things go, isn't bad, and you do get a lot of game for your money here, particularly if you go through it cooperatively. There are never quite enough co-op dungeon crawlers on the market, and while this isn't a particularly pretty or intuitive one, it allows you to kill a whole boatload of monsters while stealing all their money to spend on ways to improve your ability to kill entire boatloads of slightly tougher monsters, and that's pretty much all you need out of this kind of game.

The game does deserve some respect because, admittedly, despite its shortcomings players are likely to be compelled enough to finish it. The fun that the game does deliver when it decides to is nail-bitingly entertaining and, as stated above, the storyline is fantastic.

Daggerdale, as these things go, isn't bad, and you do get a lot of game for your money here, particularly if you go through it cooperatively. There are never quite enough co-op dungeon crawlers on the market, and while this isn't a particularly pretty or intuitive one, it allows you to kill a whole boatload of monsters while stealing all their money to spend on ways to improve your ability to kill entire boatloads of slightly tougher monsters, and that's pretty much all you need out of this kind of game.

If you’re the kind of person who does not tend to play online, I can’t in good faith recommend this game – there’s just not enough meat here. However, the online crowd is going to appreciate all the new stuff, and if that’s you, then go for it.